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Abstract:

An external tire pressure sensing device and a sealable venting member
thereof are provided. The sealable venting member is placed inside the
external tire pressure sensing device. The venting member is of an
integral part and includes a supporting platform for tightly contacting
with a sensor, a communication portion located at one side of the
supporting platform and used to lift of a gas outlet valve of a gas
nozzle, and a communicating hole for interconnecting the gas nozzle and a
sensing portion of the sensor located on the top portion of the
supporting platform. The sealable venting member has the advantages of
small axial dimension, good sealability, reliable connection and high
safety, thus further reducing the size of the external tire pressure
sensing device.

Claims:

1. A sealable venting member provided inside an external tire pressure
sensing device, wherein the venting member is of an integral part and
comprises a supporting platform for tightly contacting with a sensor, a
communication portion located at one side of the supporting platform and
used to lift off a gas outlet valve of a gas nozzle, and a communicating
hole for interconnecting the gas nozzle and a sensing portion of sensor
located on the top portion of the supporting platform.

2. The sealable venting member according to claim 1, wherein a transition
portion is disposed between the supporting platform and communication
portion; and a circular notch is defined in the transition portion for
engaging a circular member of the sensing device.

3. The sealable venting member according to claim 1, wherein the
transition portion is of a cylinder shape.

4. The sealable venting member according to claim 1, wherein the
communicating hole extends through the supporting platform and transition
portion.

5. The sealable venting member according to claim 1, wherein the
communicating hole extends through the supporting platform, transition
portion and communication portion.

6. The sealable venting member according to claim 1, wherein the
supporting platform is of a rectangular shape.

7. The sealable venting member according to claim 6, wherein the
supporting platform is provided with rounded comers.

Description:

[0001] The invention relates to a device for sensing the automobile tire
pressure and more particularly, relates to an external tire pressure
sensing device and sealable venting member thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] From kinds of patent databases throughout the world, many patent
documents related to automobile tire pressure sensing device can be
searched out. The technical solutions disclosed in these patent documents
may differ from one another. The sensing devices manufactured according
to these technical solutions however, suffer from the problem such as big
size of the sensing device in particular big size of the sensing device
in radial direction due to connection among various components and
limitation of the nature of the components. Consequently these sensing
devices fail to have their application in all kinds of automobile. As a
result, a prior art external tire pressure sensing device is mounted
generally onto the tire with big size (for example the tire of a truck).
In case that the sensing device is installed. into a small-sized car, the
sensing device will look big in size. Specifically, the dimension of the
sensing device will beyond the distance between the gas nozzle shaft and
the outermost rim of the hub of the car. In this case, the sensing device
will be exposed out of the outermost plane of the tire, and is
susceptible to collision damage caused by obstacle or person, thus
resulting in malfunction of the sensing device.

[0003] The undue big dimension of the sensing device may be resulted from
axial dimension and radial dimension of the sensing device. It is because
normally the gas nozzle is angled with respect to the outer side surface
of the tire and correspondingly, the sensing device installed on the gas
nozzle is also angled outwardly. In this case, the axial height and
radius of the sensing device itself together determine the offset
distance of the sensing device from the plane defined at the outermost
side of the tire. Apparently, the size of the sensing device may be
reduced either by reduction of the radial size or by reduction of the
height of the sensing device. To this end, the internal construction of
the entire sensing device should be optimized. By now, on one hand, all
prior art technology fail to realize this object, as it is not easy to
arrange many components and electrical elements inside extremely limited
internal space of the sensing device. On the other hand, sealable venting
construction, which is formed by lamination of multiple separate
components, also makes it impossible to further reduce the axial size of
the venting construction.

[0004] A typical external tire pressure detection transmitter is disclosed
in Chinese Patent No. 2826556. The transmitter contain complex components
such as the printed circuit board disposed on the upper portion of a
button battery for mounting an antenna thereon, the circuit board
disposed on the lower portion of the button battery, and the
gas-conducting construction constituted by multiple complicated and
separate components. This of course increases the axial height of the
transmitter. In addition, kinds of wire conduits for realizing electrical
connection among the components arranged axially also necessarily
increase the radial dimension of the transmitter. Clearly, the external
tire pressure detection transmitter made according to the above
technology is large in size and can only find its application in
large-sized truck tire. Though it can also be mounted in a normal car, it
will be susceptible to damage problems discussed above. Other patent
documents searched out by the inventor also suffer from the same problem.

[0005] It is apparent from the above analysis that conventional physical
construction doesn't work to significantly reduce the size of the
external tire pressure sending device, thus failing to be mounted into
tire of all kinds of automobile.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] One object of the invention is to optimize a sealable venting
construction inside an external tire pressure sensing device.

[0007] Another object of the invention is to provide an external tire
pressure sensing device.

[0008] To achieve the above object, the following technical solution is
provided.

[0009] A sealable venting member is provided inside an external tire
pressure sensing device. The venting member is of an integral part and
includes a supporting platform for tightly contacting with a sensor, a
communication portion located at one side of the supporting platform and
used to lift off a gas outlet valve of a gas nozzle, and a communicating
hole for interconnecting the gas nozzle and a sensing portion of the
sensor located on the top portion of the supporting platform.

[0010] A transition portion is disposed between the supporting platform
and communication portion. A circular notch is defined in the transition
portion for engaging a circular member of the sensing device. The
transition portion is of a cylinder shape.

[0014] Compared with prior art, the invention has the following
advantages.

[0015] The integral sealable venting member of the invention has many
functions. For example, it can push out the gas outlet valve of the gas
nozzle, realize venting purpose, seal the entire gas nozzle by engagement
between the circular notch and stepped ring of the base, and seal the
entire sensor by its supporting platform. The venting member has many
functions and is easy to be manufactured. As the venting member is an
integral component, and the circular notch is defined between the
communication portion and supporting platform, the engagement between the
circular notch and stepped ring of the base makes it possible to
significantly reduce the axial height of the whole venting member, thus
the axial height of the entire product being reduced as well.
Comparatively, prior art construction has greatly increased axial height
because that the communication portion, base and supporting platform are
separate components and the relative location among them must be
maintained reliably.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view of an external tire
pressure sensing, device incorporated with a sealable venting member of
the present invention;

[0017] FIG. 2 shows an assembled and cross-sectional view of the external
tire pressure sensing device incorporated with a sealable venting member
of the present invention;

[0018] FIG. 3 shows assembling relationship among a threaded post, an
inner suite and a base shown in FIG. 1;

[0019] FIG. 4 shows a top perspective view of the construction shown in
FIG. 3;

[0020] FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of a sealable venting member of the
external tire pressure sensing device according to a preferred embodiment
of the present invention;

[0021] FIG. 6 shows another perspective view of a sealable venting member
of the external tire pressure sensing device according to a preferred
embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] FIG. 7 shows a cross sectional view along A-A line of FIG. 6; and

[0023] FIG. 8 shows an assembled perspective view of an external tire
pressure sensing device incorporated with a sealable venting member of
the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0024] Various embodiments of the invention will be described below in
further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0025] Reference is made to FIG. 1. A tire pressure sensing device into
which the sealable venting member of the invention is applied includes
from bottom to top a base 1, an inner suite 2, a sensor 4, a circuit
board 5, a button battery 7 and an outer suite 9. The inner suite 2 is
sleeved on the periphery of the base 1 and the inner suite 2 is secured
with the outer suite 9 so as to form a packaging suite. The inner space
defined inside the packaging suite is used to accommodate the rest of the
above-mentioned components. There are some cooperative components such as
a plurality of screws 61, threaded posts 60, a rubber ring 8 and a
battery pressing tab 71 all of which will be described later. The
direction from the bottom to top of the sensing device is defined as
axial direction, while the direction normal to the axial direction is
defined as radial direction.

[0026] Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the base 1 includes a cylindrical main body
16 within which a screw hole 10 is defined, an extension cylinder 17
extended from the bottom of the main body 16, and a circular platform 15
disposed on the top of the main body 16. The circular platform 15 has a
larger diameter than the main body 16 so as to support other components
located on the platform 15. Three locating holes are defined evenly
circumferentially in the circular platform 15 in order to locate (or
lock) the above-mentioned three threaded posts 60. The screw hole 10 of
the main body 16 extends through the top surface of the circular platform
15. The central portion of the platform 1 communicates with the screw
hole 10. In addition, the inner diameter of the platform 15 is smaller
than that of the screw hole 10 so that a stepped ring 150 is defined on
the top portion of the screw hole 10 by the circular platform 15. The
extension cylinder 17 is hollow and is extended upon the bottom of the
main body 16. A pair of screw holes 170 is defined radially in a
circumferential wall of the extension cylinder 17. When the gas nozzle
passes across the extension cylinder 17 and is secured with the screw
hole 10 of the main body 16, two screws 11 may pass through the pair of
screw holes 170 of the cylinder 17 and therefore be rigidly secured on
the circumferential wall of the gas nozzle, thus enhancing connection
between the base 1 and gas nozzle. The circular platform 15, main body 16
and extension cylinder 17 of the base 1 are formed integrally.

[0027] Reference is made to FIGS. 2 and 3. The inner suite 2. is made of
rubber and is used to receive the main body 16 and circular platform 15
of the base 1 therein. Reference is also made to FIG. 4. On the top
surface of the circular platform 15, a frame 28 of the inner suite 2,
which is used to surround and locate the supporting platform of the
sealable venting member, is formed. The frame 28 is pressed tightly
against the top surface of the circular platform 15. A thread 21 is
formed on an outer wall of the inner suite 2 so as to engage the thread
92 defined on an inner wall of the outer suite 9. The inner suite 2
includes a circular groove 20 defined on the bottom end of the thread 21
for receiving said rubber ring 8. Referring to FIG. 4, plural through
holes are defined in the inner suite 2 through which the threaded posts
60 may pass. After the inner suite 2 is secured with both of the base I
and threaded posts 60 disposed on the base 1, the sealable venting member
of the sensing device of the invention ma be installed therein.

[0028] Referring to FIGS. 2, 5 and 7, the sealable venting member 3 of the
sensing device of the invention is an integral component, and includes a
plate-shaped supporting platform 31 located on the top of the venting
member 3 and a communication portion 33 located on the bottom thereof for
pushing out the gas outlet valve of the gas nozzle. A transition portion
32 is defined between the supporting platform 31 and communication
portion 33. The transition portion 32 is of a cylindrical shape, and a
circular notch 320 is defined in the circumferential wall of the
transition portion 32. The dimension of the notch 320 is commensurate
with that of the stepped ring 150 of the circular platform 15 of the base
1 such that the communication portion 33 of the sealable venting member 3
can be inserted into the screw hole 10 of the base 1, thereby realizing
tight engagement between the member 3 and base 1 via the tight engagement
between the stepped ring 150 of the based and circular notch 320 of the
transition portion 32. This ensures that gas flow will not escape from
the interface between the stepped ring 150 of the circular platform 15 of
the base 1 and transition portion 32 of the venting member 3, thus
achieving highly sealing effects. To make sure that the gas pressure
inside the tire can be measured by the sensor 4 after the gas outlet
valve of the gas nozzle is lifted up by the transition portion 32 of the
sealable venting member 3, a communication hole 30 is defined in the
sealable venting member 3 at a location biased from the axis of the
sensor of the invention. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the
communication hole 30 passes through the transition portion 32 and
supporting platform 31, thus the gas flow being able to travel across the
screw hole of the base 1 and space defined at the top portion of the
supporting platform 31 the communication hole 30 is designed to have a
shape at the top surface of the supporting platform 31 corresponding to
that of a sensing portion of the sensor 4 with the purposes of prevention
of gas from escaping, thus not influencing the measurement precision. By
the same token, the top surface of the supporting platform 31 is flat so
as to engage with the entire bottom surface of the sensor 4 for
preventing gas escaping. As the sealable venting member 3 is of integral
part and tightly engaged with the base 1, the axial height of the member
3 is significantly low, thus reducing the axial height of the entire
sensing device.

[0029] The supporting platform 31 of the sealable venting member 3 of the
invention is designed to be a rectangular shape and is provided with
rounded corners. When the supporting platform 31 is surrounded by the
frame 28, engagement between the rounded corners and extrusion portion
predefined on the frame 28 can better limit the location of the platform
31, thus realizing more reliable connection.

[0030] In an embodiment not illustrated in the figures, the communicating
hole 3 of the sealable venting member 3 of the invention extends through
the supporting platform 31, transition portion 32 and communication
portion 33.

[0031] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, three through holes 50 corresponding to
three threaded posts 60, are defined in the circuit board 5. Three screws
61 pass through these holes 50 and then arc locked with the posts 60
respectively, hence securing the circuit board 5 into the sensing device.
Circuitry for realizing electrical function of the sensing device is
printed and integrated into the top and bottom surfaces of the circuit
board 5. The sensor 4 is also welded onto the bottom surface of the
circuit board 5. Accordingly, the sensor 4 is disposed just between the
circuit board 5 and the supporting platform 31 of the sealable venting
member 3. In addition, the sensor 4 and the supporting platform 31 are
secured firmly with each other under the action of the three screws 61,
thus making sure that no gas will escape out of the sensing portion of
the sensor 4 from the gas nozzle except for the communication hole 30 of
the sealable venting member 3. As shown in FIG. 1, a micro-strip line 58
is circumferentially disposed on the outer periphery of the top surface
of the circuit board 5. One end of the micro-strip line 58 is connected
with the control circuit, while the other end thereof is extended to one
of the through holes 50. As such, when a screw 61 is inserted into the
through hole 50, the micro-strip line 58, the screw 61, the threaded post
60 engaged with the above screw 61, the base 1 and the gas nozzle
constitute together an antenna construction for transmitting and
receiving the signal. The micro-strip line 58 functions to match
impedance and extend the length of the antenna constructed of the above
screw 61, threaded post 60, base 1 and gas nozzle. The existence of the
micro-strip line 58 enhances the capability of signal transmission of the
antenna constructed of the above-mentioned components. This ensures that
the signal generated after detection of the sensor 4 can be transmitted
into free space through said antenna construction under the control of
the control circuit. By this manner, the above signal can be steadily and
reliably transferred to a monitor unit of the tire pressure system so as
to be further processed.

[0032] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 the button battery 7 is placed on the
top surface of the circuit board 5. The battery pressing tab 71 is
positioned on the top portion (positive electrode) of the battery 7. The
battery pressing tab 71 along with a negative electrode connection
portion printed on the top portion of the circuit board 5 are the
components of the control circuit. By the connection function of the
pressing tab 71 and the negative electrode connection portion with the
both electrodes of the button battery 7, the battery 7 supplies power to
the entire control circuit. Being supplied with power of the battery 7,
the sensor 4 is able to work normally.

[0033] Reference is made again to FIGS. 1 and 2. The outer suite 9, which
forms together with the inner suite 2 the packaging suite, is of an
inverted conical shape. In the outer suit 9 the thread 92 is defined to
engage with the thread 21 of the inner suite 2. A plurality of screw
holes 90 is defined circumferentially on the bottom portion of the outer
suite 9. These screw holes 90 pass radially through the outer suite 9. A
plurality of screws 91 pass through these screw holes 90 respectively
such that the end surface of each screw 91 is pressed against the bottom
surface of the inner suite 2. As a result, once the outer suite 9 and
inner suite 2 are assembled with each other, the interior construction of
the packaging suite will not be damaged by simply rotating the outer
suite 9 unless the screws 91 are removed, thus the entire sensing device
being protected effectively

[0034] With reference to above respective figures, the assembling
procedure of the external tire pressure sensing device into which the
sealable venting member of the invention is incorporated is described as
follows.

[0035] At first, the threaded posts 60 are located inside corresponding
holes of the circular platform 15 of the base 1. After that, the inner
suite 2 is sleeved on the base 1 and threaded posts 60. Next, the
communication portion 33 of the sealable venting member 3 is placed into
the screw hole 10 of the base 1 such that the circular notch 320 of the
member 3 is locked with the stepped ring 150 of the circular platform 15
of the base 1. At this time, the supporting platform 31 of the sealable
venting member 3 is tightly positioned inside the frame 28 of the inner
suite 2 such that the base 1, threaded posts 60, inner suite 2 and
venting member 3 are secured strongly.

[0036] Then, the sensor 4, which is disposed on the bottom surface of the
circuit board 5, is mounted such that the sensing portion of the sensor 4
engages with the communicating hole 30 of the sealable venting member 3.
At locations corresponding to respective through holes 50 of the circuit
board 5 and threaded posts 60, a number of screws 61 pass through the
through holes 50 defined in the circuit board 5 and then are locked with
respective threaded posts 60. One of the screws 61 is connected with the
micro-strip line 58 which connects with both of the control circuit and
the antenna.

[0037] Next, the button battery 7 is mounted on the top surface of the
circuit board 5. On the top portion of the battery 7, the battery
pressing tab 71 electrically connected with the control circuit is
disposed, thus finishing the entire assembling process.

[0038] Finally the rubber ring 8 is sleeved on the circular groove 20
formed on the bottom portion of the screw 21 defined on the outer wall of
the inner suite 21. Then, the outer suite 9 is locked with the inner
suite 2 by means of a screw 91 which passes through and engages with the
screw hole 90 defined on the bottom portion of the outer suite 9.

[0039] As such, the whole assembling process of the sensing device is
finished. As described above, to enhance the connection between the
sensing device and gas nozzle and when the extension cylinder 17 of the
base 1 receives the gas nozzle therein, two screws 11 are threaded into
radial screw holes 170 of the extension cylinder 17 respectively, thus
making the gas nozzle secured into the extension cylinder 17 by said pair
of screws 11 and making. the entire construction more stable.

[0040] The finally assembled external tire pressure sensing device of the
invention is illustrated in FIG. 8. It can be seen that the entire device
is compact and has a greatest diametrical dimension of 2.32 cm. The axial
distance between the bottom surface of the circular platform of the base
and outer suite 9 is no more than 1.1 cm. Accordingly, the axial
dimension of the entire packaging suite is also small. It is well known
that for a conventional vehicle, the distance between the gas nozzle of a
tire and the outermost side of the tire is often larger than 2.5 cm.
Apparently the tire pressure sending device of the invention has superior
adaptability to most kinds of automobiles.

[0041] In a summary the sealable venting member of the external tire
pressure sensing device of the invention has the advantages of small
axial dimension, good sealability, reliable connection and high safety,
thus further reducing the size of the external tire pressure sensing
device.

[0042] Person of ordinary skill in the art should know that the signal
generated by the sensor of the invention may include but is not limited
to pressure signal. For example, the signal may be temperature signal.
Generally, the signal generated by electrical detection function of the
sensor and to be transmitted may be transmitted is the antenna
construction of the invention. These signals to be transmitted belong to
the signal generated by the sensor of the invention.

[0043] Though various embodiments of the invention have been illustrated
above, a person of ordinary skill in the art will understand that,
variations and improvements made upon the illustrative embodiments fall
within the scope of the invention, and the scope of the invention is only
limited by the accompanying claims and their equivalents.